A "friendly" Super Bowl bet between tech groups

In the spirit of the many, many friendly Wisconsin-Pennsylvania wagers tied to the Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh Technology Council and the Wisconsin Technology Council have agreed to a tech-flavored bet on the outcome of Super Bowl XLV.

The two groups will stack up a mix of products and services representing the technologies in their respective regions.

Quite confident that the Steelers will win, the Pittsburgh Technology Council will put up a Prime-8 Gorilla from Bossa Nova Robotics to represent the city’s robotics industry. They're also throwing in some sensors, a case of Penn Brewery Penn Dark beer and a “Basket of Pittsburgh” delicacies that includes Iron City Beer Nuts, Clark Bars and Heinz Mustard.

The Wisconsin Technology Council, which is much more in touch with the reality of a Packers victory, is countering with a Nintendo Wii game called “Jam City Rollergirls” designed by Frozen Codebase in Green Bay. The group is also sweetening the deal with a gallon of "green gasoline" made by Virent Energy Systems of Madison; a case of Leinenkugel’s beer and a selection of cheeses, which they describe as "two of Wisconsin’s original biotechnology products."

And as a gesture of gracious pre-victory for the Packers, the Wisconsin tech group is including some officially licensed “Titletown Towels” (brandished by Packers’ fans since 1996) and “Terrible Towels” waved by Steelers’ fans. Both towels are made by McArthur Towel & Sports in Baraboo.

The Pittsburgh Technology Council is one of the oldest and largest organizations of its kind in the United States, according to the group. It was created in 1983 as Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania were losing old-line manufacturing jobs. The Wisconsin Technology Council formed in 2001 to boost economic growth in Wisconsin’s tech sectors, including life sciences, advanced manufacturing, information technology and “cleantech” products and services.